Students make simple tasks complex by Yvonda Acker

The gym at Dodge City Middle School was filled on Thursday with students and textbooks as the STEM Summer Learning Academy wrapped up. However, those textbooks weren't being used in any traditional way. Instead, they were stood up around the room like dominoes; in fact, exactly like dominoes.

The academy, which was held during the month of June, was designed to immerse students in mathematics and engineering, along with science and technology. The goal was to address literacy in English Language Arts and to prepare students for higher education by exploring design, integrated problem solving, teamwork and thought leadership. The STEM group, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, was 147 students strong and finished up with a presentation of their projects June 27.

But what kind of presentation would involve almost 500 textbooks acting as dominoes?“It was one of those things like ‘Apollo 13’ where you throw everything out on the table and say this is the vision: how is it going to look in the end? And this is it. This is the results,” Principal Michael King said.

King is referring to project-based learning centered on Rube Goldberg machines that take simple tasks and turn them into complex ones with the use of a series of simple machines.

“We went to our science teachers and asked what would be most beneficial for kids to learn over the summer and they said simple machines, mainly because there’s a lot of math to it,” King explained. “It was an excellent way of getting hands-on experience with technology.

The student’s utilized iPads and laptops every day, worked on fractions and calculations and studied Newton’s Law. They worked under the direction of three science teachers, three math teachers and three language arts teachers.

Jesse West, one of the science teachers involved, said they started off with the idea of simple machines. “Students were introduced to them, they explored them and then they built them,” he said. “Math teachers taught the formulas and substitutions and the language arts teachers worked on the history and the inventors.”

West said his students mostly concentrated on machines that would pop balloons, but there were some groups that focused on throwing something away or moving a toy car.

“They definitely learned the importance of trial and error and I think it’s been a good experience for them,” he said. “With summer school, it’s always a trick keeping them focused but with this, once they got out here and were in charge of their own projects, they were able to be a lot more involved than they would have in a regular classroom. “In a survey, 95 percent of the students said they enjoyed the project-based summer academy experience more so than their regular school learning.“It was a really fun experience and a really different way of learning,” Arleth Calzada, seventh grade, said.

The students watched videos of Goldberg and then discussed different ideas. According to seventh-grade student Maria Aparicio, if they didn’t have the materials they needed or get the results they wanted, they improvised.

“We didn't have Legos so we used dominoes,” she said. “We needed the marble to go straight so we put a roller down the middle.”Aparicio, along with Alex Saldana and Daniel Hurtado, designed “The Mad Machine.” The purpose was clear: to pop a balloon using an incline, plane, wedge and wheel and axle. And even with the improvising, the group enjoyed the sweet taste of success as they presented their idea to classmates.

“I learned that a simple task can become really hard,” Aparicio said. “But it’s more fun than just sitting around and doing worksheets. At school, we don’t get to do projects like this.”

One group of students each had to do an individual project before being separated into groups of three or four. Then they worked on an all-class assignment; but for the grand finale, all three classes worked together on a huge project, under the direction of science teacher Debra Hiers. The “machine” that took up half the gymnasium, was actually comprised of at least 15 smaller machines, including pulleys, levers, wedges, screws, wheel and axles, planes and inclines…plus textbooks – approximately 500 of them.

“The leadership I've seen emerge from students who don’t traditionally do well in school has been amazing,” Assistant Principal Pam Algrim, said. “Our attendance has been really, really good.”

The group’s project is called the “DCMS Bubble Blowing Machine” and took up half of the gymnasium. It included a puppet suspended from the ceiling on a pulley system. “A project is easy when it’s just you,” Algrim said. “But when you have to collaborate together in small groups, that’s a lot harder. Having this many students working together is just amazing.”

This group also found success, but not before many, many practice runs.“It was hard trying to figure out how to make this all work,” Jarett Lunow, who enters the ninth grade this fall, said. “We probably tried the zip line 20 times before we moved it to a different angle, to make it more powerful.”

“I learned that you have to keep trying your ideas out and if it doesn’t work perfectly, you have to keep working on it until you get it right,” Anthony Noyola, who will also be a freshman this fall, said.

For King, his hope is that when it comes time for these students to determine a career path, they remember what they learned in this month-long academy.“The other part of this is to get them to realize that there could be some career interest in the math and science fields that they may want to pursue and then motivate them to want to pursue it,” he said.

STEM SUMMER LEARNING ACADEMY

The Dodge City Middle School STEM Summer Learning Academy will place a large emphasis on not just STEM learning, but technology in particular. Students will be immersed in a technology rich environment including the utilization of computers, creating many opportunities for students to utilize technology for learning. The STEM Summer Learning Academy will apply a mix of integrated studies that include mathematics and engineering, along with science and technology. The goal is not only to address literacy in English Language Arts but to prepare students for higher education by exploring design, integrated problem solving, teamwork and thought leadership.

The STEM Summer Learning Academy is designed to offer project-based learning experiences to students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics along with a language development lab. The academy will target rising 5th through 8th grade students.

PROJECT BASED CURRICULUM UNITS

Some curriculum units will be constructed around the Design and Discovery which is an academic enrichment curriculum that engages students in hands-on engineering and design activities that enhance knowledge, and problem solving skills in the areas of science and engineering. Students in grades 5-8 will be using simple machines as their focus of study. Every grade will be building complex machines using simple machines that will solve an everyday problem. Such as, design a machine to crush and recycle an empty soft drink can or design a complex machine that follows in the footsteps of a Rube Goldberg, where the machine makes a simple task, like mailing a letter, and makes it very complex.

Each grade will use the simple machines to learn the curriculum suited to their grade level. Fifth grade will learn the types of simple machines and they make work easier. Sixth, seventh and eighth grade will use the simple machines to investigate forces, motion and Newton’s 3 laws of motion.

GOALSThe STEM Summer Learning Academy will address the needs of students who have have shown a desire for and want to get ahead in meeting the required proficiencies in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Students presently in grades five through eight will be enrolled in courses designed to meet their academic needs for applied skill development in content areas necessary for advancement to their next grade level.

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONSHigh expectations for academic achievement are expected during the STEM Summer Learning Academy. A student must make a 70% overall average grade in their three courses of study to be considered as passing. One assessment will be given each week in each course of study and at least one daily grade will be taken by individual instructors. Units of study and assessments will be based on Common Core standards.

STEM CAREER AWARENESSStudents are making choices in middle school that will impact their desire and ability to pursue STEM careers. One element of the STEM Summer Learning Academy will be to provide time for middle school students to explore accurate information about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers enabling them to make more knowledgeable choices about courses of study and career paths.

USE OF TECHNOLOGYOne of the STEM program elements is to help students with learning how to use technology to enhance their learning. Each student enrolled in the STEM Summer Learning Academy will be provided a mini laptop for use in their classes. The mini laptop will be checked out at the beginning of the day and checked back in at the end of the day. Each student and their parent will be required to sign a user agreement prior to receiving their computer.

READING & WRITING LABThe Reading and Writing Lab is for those students who are motivated in reading and writing and want to get a head start for the upcoming school year. The lab is designed to give supportive instruction based on the student's specific needs and strengths while maintaining already achieved progress and to continue growth.

The lab is structured to emphasize: the student's ability to construct, extend, and examine meaning; word attack skills; comprehension using the four stances; shared reading, guided reading and independent reading; the use of prior knowledge; the purposes of reading/writing; and strategies for before, during, and after reading/writing. Students will also be exposed to technical writing as a part of their summer learning experience.

STUDENT SURVEY

tell me what you ARE doing

week one stem summer learning academy

Ms. Herndon's ELA class during week one setup their Google e-mail accounts and blogs. They researched Rube Goldberg machines, cartoons, and his life using the internet and writing their summaries on their blog. They also began writing about the machine drawing while concentrating on transitions, using complex sentences, and scientific vocabulary.

Mr. West science students were introduced to the 6 simple machines in multiple formats. This involved Discovery Education videos, hands on activities, and a real world scavenger hunt. The Discover Ed videos gave a solid introduction to each of the simple machines and introduced both work and mechanical advantage. Students then completed video quizzes to insure that they were following along and focused during the videos. Several activities followed which included building inclined planes, pulleys, and levers. The scavenger hunt was based on finding real world examples of simple machines in and around the middle school. Each example had a QR code for students to scan with their iPads. These were linked to videos explaining the machine or to a picture of another example. Finally, the class finished the week with a "Home Inventory" of simple machines. Students were to go home, find an example of each of the six simple machines. From thier home inventory assignmets students took a digital picture to share with the class, or draw a picture if they did not have access to a digital device at home. Next week the class will explore finding mechanical advantage of each machine.

Math students in Mrs. Lapka's class were introduced to science formulas for mechanical advantage and work. In the second week students will learn about circles to help them understand concepts of motion through the use of a wheel & axle. By the end of the second week students will begin to work with formulas to calculate a simple slope for both angles and wedges.

Fifth and sixth grade students during week 1 worked on identifying, constructing and manipulating simple machines. Students have been doing this by using K'NEX to build the machine, watching videos, reading passages and getting hands on experience with the actual simple machines. These specified learning goals were launched through the use of a QR Code scavenger hunt. Students eplored QR code reference points on and around the school grounds where real life examples were identified and supplemental information in the form of pictures or videos were matched with the examples.

Mrs. Hooper's 7th and 8th grade class began the summer session in Language Arts by discussing research. In particular students were expected to understand how to summarize and paraphrase in order to avoid plagiarism. Students then spent several days completing a simple machines webquest that required them to gather information by reading expository articles online and writing paraphrased and summarized notes. For the past few days the students have been working in groups creating an acrostic poem incorporating their collective knowledge about simple machines. Tomorrow students will revisit the information gathered during the research process and begin creating a presentation poster. This poster will coincide with several concepts the science teacher has discussed with the students as well as formulas the math teacher has emphasized. Should time allow, the plan for the future is for the students to write, direct, and star in their own infomercials about the simple machines they are building in science.

week two/three stem summer learning academy

The 5th/6th graders spent this week researching simple machines using the internet. They were required to take notes and draw sketches of each simple machine. Their notes included what each simple machine did and how it made life easier. They were able to interact with a variety of websites that helped them understand how to use simple machines to create a compound machine. The students also started reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by participating in different literature circle activities. They discussed vocabulary, answered comprehension questions, and started discussing ideas for their inventions that they were going to create.

In week two, students in Mr. West's class learned that in order to be considered a simple machine, you must have one of the three criteria: make work easier, make work faster, or change the direction of an effort. Focusing on making work easier, students then engaged in activities to measure mechanical advantage of inclined planes, pulleys, wheel & axles, and levers. At the conclusion of the week, students were introduced to the Rube Goldburg Project. They have been assigned their teams and will begin brainstorming, planning, and constructing their projects in week 3 through 4. Only time will tell what these academically oriented scientists come up with!Week two of Ms. Herndon's E.L.A. class included students finishing their writings about their machine drawings. Students then used Educreations on the iPads to animate their drawings and incorporate their writing. In Week 3 students have started with a literature review of the fairy tales.

Students are picking out the simple machines used in these original Brothers Grimm stories and brainstorming other simple machines that could have made tasks easier. Also in week three students will be writing a poem about simple machines and posting all information on their blogs.

VISION STATEMENT

Dodge City Middle School will foster a culture with independent learning where students can achieve their full potential in academics, personal, physical and moral development in the 21st Century.